2026 Winter Olympics
|- | colspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;text-align:center;"|Summer |} The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXV Olympic Winter Games, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event that is scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in the British city of Glasgow and the Norwegian city of Lillehammer, this will be first Olympics to be hosted in two different countries. The election was held on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the IOC headquarters. Glasgow were elected as hosts, defeating Stockholm and Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo Bidding calendar The IOC Executive Board met in Lausanne to discuss the 2026 bidding process on 9 June 2017; and a new approach was approved at the Extraordinary IOC Session on 11–12 July 2017. The IOC will take a more proactive role in assisting and supporting cities considering a candidature for the 2026 Olympics, and will customise its approach to the needs of the cities in order for them to develop the best value proposition. These measures will lead to a simplified process for the cities, with reduced costs. The Invitation Phase has been extended to one year, starting 13 September 2017, and the Candidature Phase has been shortened to one year, starting from 2018 to 2019. These measures were enacted due to a lack of interest in bidding for the 2026 Games well into 2017. 'Dialogue stage' *Launch of dialogue stage (29 September 2017) *Joint briefing through video conference (13 October 2017) *Signing of candidature cooperation agreement (Before scheduling first IOC expert support visits or interactive working session) *Customised on-site expert support visits (November 2017 – April 2018) *On-site interactive working session 1: Presentation and discussion of initial Games concept (25 November – 15 December 2017) *Olympic winter Games PyeongChang. 2018 Observer programme (9–23 February 2018) *Deadline for cities to enter the candidature process by joining dialogue stage (31 March 2018) *On-site interactive working session 2: Presentation of consolidated Games concept after consultation with IOC technical experts (May 2018) *Official debriefing Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 in Beijing (June 2018) *Provision of Host city contract (July 2018) *IOC Working Group Report submitted to IOC Executive Board (September 2018) *IOC Executive Board to recommend to the IOC Session cities to invite to the candidature stage (October 2018) *IOC Session to invite a number of interested cities to take part in the candidature stage (October 2018) 'Candidature stage' *Deadline for the submission of the Candidature File including core guarantees by the *Candidate Cities (11 January 2019) *IOC expert pre-visits (February 2019) *IOC Evaluation Commission analysis including a visit to each candidate city and requests for submission of any additional information or guarantees (March / April 2019) *Deadline for the submission of the complete Guarantee File (12 April 2019) *Final Q&A session with the Evaluation Commission via individual video conference (May 2019) *Publication of the Evaluation Commission Report on www.olympic.org (June / July 2019) *Candidate Cities’ right of response following publication of the Evaluation Commission Report (July 2019) *Candidate City Briefing 2026 for IOC Members and International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (July 2019) *Candidate Cities present to IOC Session in Milan, followed by election of the Host City 2026 (11 September 2019) *Individual debriefing with each NOC/Candidate City (6–9 months after the election) Criteria A firm criterion for the Winter Olympics is the availability of alpine ski slopes of certain sizes, which narrows down potential locations significantly, and often necessitates locations in less populated areas. The men's downhill requires at least 800 meters altitude difference along a course of around three kilometers in length. A certain spectator capacity is required, which is most often 10,000 but varies according to the particular sport. Furthermore, certain VIP areas are required at every venue. National Hockey League (NHL) players are only likely to take part in the men's ice hockey tournament if the Olympics is held in a "traditional" ice hockey country, in which case the only options would be Calgary or Stockholm. However, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that NHL players are unlikely to be included if the Winter Games are held anywhere outside the continent of North America. This would rule out all potential bidders apart from Calgary. Potential bids On 2 July 2018, the IOC announced that it would contribute US$925 million to the host city in order to help reduce costs. 'Cities taking part in dialogue stage' The following four cities have been participating in the dialogue stage since its launch in September 2017 and took part in the PyeongChang 2018 Observer Programme. However, Switzerland subsequently withdrew from the bidding process in June 2018. * [[#Italy|'Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo', Italy]] * [[#Sweden|'Stockholm–Åre', Sweden]] * [[#United Kingdom–Norway|'Glasgow', United Kingdom and Lillehammer, Norway]] * (withdrew on 19 November 2018) * (was not invited to candidature stage on 4 October 2018) * (withdrew on 13 September 2018) * (withdrew on 6 July 2018) * (withdrew on 10 June 2018 after rejection in referendum) 'Cities in candidate stage' * Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy * Stockholm–Åre, Sweden * Glasgow, United Kingdom and Lillehammer, Norway :''Main article: Glasgow–Lillehammer bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics ''